The UK, the EU and the Great British Public

The British Prime Minister, David Cameron has received overwhelming support from British voters over his historic decision to veto changes to the EU Treaty. According to a recent poll

The first poll conducted since the acrimonious Brussels summit shows that a total of 62 per cent of people agreed with the Prime Minister’s defiant stance against the EU last week, with just 19 per cent against.

On many occasions I have tried to explain to people that although there are a few countries looking towards EU membership, there is one country that would probably consider leaving the EU.

The great British public consider the EU to be a vast ‘talking shop’ or some would refer to it as a great big ‘gravy train’. The EU is seen as a vast bureaucratic organisation that spends far too much time inventing new laws that try to replace the local laws of EU member countries.

It would appear that if a referendum were to be held on continuing the UK membership of the EU, the British public would vote to leave the EU as quickly as possible.

The EEC (European Economic Community), as the EU was previously known was always seen as an opportunity for the UK to do business with a market of 500 million people. They did not anticipate that so many rules and regulations effecting everyday British life imposed by the EU.

It could be argued that we British are our own worst enemies when it comes to following rules and regulations. Whenever new EU laws/regulations etc are introduced, the UK is seen as one of the few countries that will follow them word for word and make sure they are implemented….well because that is the law. British people visiting other EU member countries then witness how most of the other member countries tend to ignore most of the laws/rules and just continue to do their own thing. Visit Greece or Malta or Spain if you want to see how ‘Health and Safety Regulations’ are completely ignored.

Moreover, British citizens do not see any real benefits from the UK being a member of the EU. Many will be quick to complain that EU membership has brought too many changes to British life including a flood of EU immigrants to the UK. A story in the British national media last week only re-enforced this fear when it was reported that one well know British company in England was encouraging its managers to learn Polish so that they could communicate with its employees, the majority of which are Polish citizens.

Not all agree with Prime Minister Cameron. Some think that the UK could be making a big mistake by playing the veto card. We will see.